Wildlife officers remove bear cubs from inside Colorado home

UPI News Service, 11/14/2017

A Colorado woman had to call for help when a garage cleaning session came to an abrupt end due to a family of bears.

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The Colorado Springs woman, who lives near North Cheyenne Canyon Park, said she was cleaning her garage Monday evening and had just made a brief trip to her back yard when she returned to find two bear cubs in her driveway.

The mother bear was watching from across the street, the woman said.

The woman watched as the cubs ran into her garage and made their way into her house.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers were summoned to the scene and removed the cubs from the home. All three bears were tranquilized and carted away by the department.

Officials said they are determining whether the bears will be released or euthanized.

"A sow, it's her job to teach those cubs where to find food and how to find food. We'd hope she'd teach them how to find natural foods like berries and acorns. But in this case, she's teaching them to find food in people's houses. That makes her and them both dangerous," Colorado Parks and Wildlife Manager Frank McGee told KKTV.

The department said last week that about 168 bears have been euthanized this year and about 107 others have been relocated. Officials said most of the bears that were put down had been involved in problematic interactions with humans, including breaking into homes and vehicles.